For this week's discussion on companies that add value by outsourcing, I chose Coca-Cola. Since its early days, Coca-Cola has utilized outsourcing to expand through bottling and distribution. Coca-Cola initially outsourced by condensing their products into a syrup concentrate that was purchased by soda fountain owners. The soda fountain owners would add water to the syrup to create the soda to serve to consumers. The cost of the water to mix with the syrup was absorbed by the soda fountain owners. Coca-Cola saved money in transportation costs because the syrup concentrate was less volume than the finished product. Coca-Cola used their bottling and distribution strategy to globalize their brand, with more than 200 bottling and distribution partners worldwide (Empata, 2022). Coca-Cola produces their beverage products but relies heavily on other companies for bottling and distribution.

Outsourcing helped Coca-Cola gain value by expanding their brand and product globally at little cost to the organization. Without outsourcing, Coca-Cola would have been responsible for the expense of bottling plants and equipment, labor, and transportation/distribution costs. The value in this instance was most definitely created for the organization, as they were driven to increase profit by outsourcing a good portion of expense. As a result, value was also added to workers that found employment through the expansion of distribution and customer's all around the world that are able to access Coca-Cola products.

Elmore, Bartow. (2014, November 25). Fortune.com.How Coca-Cola built a sugary empire, by outsourcing as much as possible.Retrieved on June 1, 2023 from: How Coca-Cola built a sugary empire, by outsourcing as much as possible | Fortune

Empata Global. (2022. December 9). LinkedIn.com.15 Companies That Outsource to Stay On Top.Retrieved on June 1, 2023 from: List: 15 US Companies That Outsource to Stay On Top (linkedin.com)

In your replies to at least two peers, discuss potential risks of outsourcing for the examples they providedfor example, risks to supplier quality or stability, intellectual property, or reputation. The following questions may help develop your responses:

• Can you provide an example of an organization that started outsourcing the supply chain and then stopped? What risks did the organization face that caused them to stop the project?
• Can you provide an example of an organization that outsourced similarly and faced reputational damage due to the project?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Example of an organization that started outsourcing the supply chain and then stopped One example is ... View the full answer